Story by Shaun Boyd | CBS News on MSN 

A bill by Colorado’s Rep. Joe Neguse and Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper would award Ed Dwight the Congressional Gold Medal.

Dwight is the first Black astronaut candidate and oldest man to go into space. The 91-year-old has also owned several successful businesses during his extraordinary life and is a nationally renowned sculptor.

He says, in many ways, his destiny was written by his mom.

“She had this thing beat into my brain that anybody who had the advantage either educationally or financially owed it to the rest of the community,” he said.